win XP nightmare

[Jtalk4456]

i'm fixing someone's *shudders* win XP Panasonic Toughbook

so it's giving me a missing file error

Quote

 

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

 

Ok so i get an XP disk, but it's not as simple as repairing the install like with newer win 10 versions. But i get into a mode somehow to let you recover files.  It says I'm in MiniXP mode or something. never heard of this before. 

Either way i try to run chkdsk /f

well it needs admin access, no probs. 

run as: administrator...

and it times out trying to load admin command prompt. 

Tried several times and it can't pull it up

I toss ccleaner on a flash real quick, see if the registry cleaner will fix it

neither USB port responds.

So I'm stuck.

Without losing his data or without having to pull what little of the 30 gb harddrive is filled and reformatting, does anyone know a built in utility where i might be able to fix or find that file?

[Crunchy Dragon]

You could try throwing the drive in another machine with some form of adapter and pulling his data off the drive so you can do a clean reinstall.

[DrMacintosh]

Is hal.dll a Windows file? If so they only way you are going to get it back is with a repair disk. Does XP have that feature? 

 

I have absolutely 0 experience in XP. All computers running it should be shot on site  

 

I think copying his data would be the best way to go. 

[sunslayr]

winXp does have a repair mode if you boot from disc link

[captain_to_fire]

Have you tried rebooting the machine, press F8 and choose "Last Known Good Configuration"?

[Jtalk4456]

3 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

You could try throwing the drive in another machine with some form of adapter and pulling his data off the drive so you can do a clean reinstall.

 

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I think copying his data would be the best way to go. 

Dangit I was trying to avoid that... Oh well. And no, win XP doesn't have any repair features, and @DrMacintosh I very much agree with your second statement. This is his MAIN computer... pic in case you missed it

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 minute ago, Jtalk4456 said:

Dangit I was trying to avoid that... Oh well. And no, win XP doesn't have any repair features, and @DrMacintosh I very much agree with your second statement. This is his MAIN computer... pic in case you missed it

-snip-

One of my friends has an old laptop that runs Win98...

 

Adapters aren't too pricey, they'll let you throw it in a desktop without trouble.

[RedAV8R]

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-restore-hal-dll-from-the-windows-xp-cd-2624517

[Jtalk4456]

2 minutes ago, RedAV8R said:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-restore-hal-dll-from-the-windows-xp-cd-2624517

I'll try that

I'm using a win xp installation disk i found online, so hopefully it has what i need

[Jtalk4456]

Any ideas? 

[sunslayr]

Sounds like It could be a failing hard disc but running an XP repair install might still work.

[Jtalk4456]

I can't get this thing into a repair install which is the issue right now

[sunslayr]

That's strange, what happens when you boot from disc? Does it not let you run an install at all?

[Jtalk4456]

yeah but not a repair, the only install option it has is deleting all partitions and reinstalling windows from scratch.

[sunslayr]

Just to clarify you mean once you press enter to install windows and then r to repair, this does not work? Does it give a specific error or just lockup?

[ScratchCat]

Install Windows XP on a different drive and copy HAL over?

[ScratchCat]

First take the drive and clone it to an image file on a same storage location so nothing is lost if the drive breaks.

Then maybe try use another copy of CP or other Windows to run CHKDSK on the drive connected to another computer in the case that Windows is so broken even cmd is not working.

[Jtalk4456]

4 hours ago, ScratchCat said:

Install Windows XP on a different drive and copy HAL over?

interesting idea, but i don't have a scratch drive to work with. I'm pretty broke. I think I'm gonna just copy what's there and reformat and reinstall when i get home. It will just take forever due to the (lack of) speed of the computer

[ScratchCat]

36 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

interesting idea, but i don't have a scratch drive to work with. I'm pretty broke. I think I'm gonna just copy what's there and reformat and reinstall when i get home. It will just take forever due to the (lack of) speed of the computer

You could use a VM on a more recent computer.

The reinstall should fix it, it may be worth looking at the SMART values of the drive with CrystalDiskInfo to check if it will die soon or not.

[Ryujin2003]

For non responsive USB, I'd definitely look in the BIOS to see if they are disabled. Otherwise, probably failing hardware or corrupted driver is the USB is on a daughter board.

 

When did this driver error pop up? What happened before hand? Ant additional information on that stuff?

 

1 hour ago, Jtalk4456 said:

interesting idea, but i don't have a scratch drive to work with. I'm pretty broke. I think I'm gonna just copy what's there and reformat and reinstall when i get home. It will just take forever due to the (lack of) speed of the computer

 

I would definitely run a HDD check before going through that ass pain. With a 30 GB drive, I can only assume it's factory original, so it's definitely had some abuse. It might be failing and causing driver corruption and other issues. Reinstalling would be a waste of time.

 

Have you booted into safe mode to run checkdsk? Or are you only doing it in Windows shell?

 

Also, you can try bootibg to Windows safe mode with Cmd Prompt and go that route as well.

 

Outside of Checkdsk, you can run SFC /SCANNOW, which will look for Windows file corruptions and try to repair then. Again, safe mode is best. Run that after you can scan the HDD. Any chance or downloading any desk check software and running natively?

 

 

 

If you do end up doing the reinstall, be aware that getting drivers for that might be near impossible. So check in that before asking. I've had some old Toshiba and Panasonic machines come through that I couldn't get WinXP or 7 running because I couldn't find a legitimate source of drivers. The hardest one is always the NIC.

[Jtalk4456]

11 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

For non responsive USB, I'd definitely look in the BIOS to see if they are disabled. Otherwise, probably failing hardware or corrupted driver is the USB is on a daughter board.

 

When did this driver error pop up? What happened before hand? Ant additional information on that stuff?

 

 

I would definitely run a HDD check before going through that ass pain. With a 30 GB drive, I can only assume it's factory original, so it's definitely had some abuse. It might be failing and causing driver corruption and other issues. Reinstalling would be a waste of time.

 

Have you booted into safe mode to run checkdsk? Or are you only doing it in Windows shell?

 

Also, you can try bootibg to Windows safe mode with Cmd Prompt and go that route as well.

 

Outside of Checkdsk, you can run SFC /SCANNOW, which will look for Windows file corruptions and try to repair then. Again, safe mode is best. Run that after you can scan the HDD. Any chance or downloading any desk check software and running natively?

 

 

 

If you do end up doing the reinstall, be aware that getting drivers for that might be near impossible. So check in that before asking. I've had some old Toshiba and Panasonic machines come through that I couldn't get WinXP or 7 running because I couldn't find a legitimate source of drivers. The hardest one is always the NIC.

I'll try that when i get home